Quảng Ninh prepares for first storm this year

Update:
July, 27/2016 - 15:30

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Boats anchor at Bài Thơ bridge of Hạ Long City in northern Quảng Ninh Province this morning. All cruise ships in the province have been banned from sending tourists offshore to visit Hạ Long Bay from 6am today. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Hoàng

The People’s Committee of Quảng Ninh Province ordered the owners of 473 cruise ships to move the vessels to safe shelters and to anchor them down tightly to avoid any damage that might be caused by the storm.

About 2,000 tourists on Cô Tô Island were moved to safety ashore as of 5pm yesterday.

However, 647 tourists, five of whom are foreigners, are still on the island. Cô Tô Island District authorities asked tourist agencies to provide accommodation to the tourists.

Đặng Huy Hậu, standing Vice-Chairman of Quảng Ninh Province’s People’s Committee, asked relevant agencies to urgently contact more than 40 offshore ships and boats to ask them to move to safe shelters, while evacuating households in areas prone to floods and landslides, especially those in mountainous areas.

The preparations to deal with the storm must be completed before 4pm today, he said.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, the storm was centred at about 19.5 degrees north and 108.5 degrees east, about 200km to the southeast off Thái Bình and Ninh Bình provinces at 8am today.

The storm is expected to move in a west-northwest direction in the next 12 hours, at a speed of up to 20kmph and hit the Red River Delta region this evening before weakening into a tropical depression.

The north-eastern and northern mountainous areas are expected to experience heavy rains this evening. — VNS